The Study Of Land Use Changes And Their Driving Forces During The Process Of Urbanization

Land use change and its driving forces is a frontier problem in the study of contemporary geography,but also a significant part for the International Earth Science, especially for the study of the earth surfacesystem. Moreover, the topic of land use changes receives the attention of people from all walks of life. Withthe rapid economic development and the growth of population, the urban-rural fringe, which have both thecharacteristics of urban and rural areas, are formed during China’s extensive and rapid urbanization process.The land use changes in these areas are the fastest and the most remarkable. At the same time, theurban-rural fringes also bring many eco-environmental problems. Therefore, studying land use changes andthe driving force in urban-rural fringes is of great importance. As an ancient agricultural country, China hasa long history of land development. And the types of land use and land cover are various. China’s land use/land cover change study has become a significant part of the global environmental change researches. Tocarry out the research of land use/land cover changes is bound to play a worldwide decisive role.The study areas of this thesis are the four townships in the northeast of Kaifeng, Henan Province.Based on the Location Theory, the Eco-economic Theory and the Sustainable Land Use Theory, as well asthe data of land use/land cover in these regions in1990,2000and2010, we will analyze the features ofland use/land cover of the four study areas in the three periods, and we will also analyze the land usechanges and the driving force factors during the urbanization process in the four townships. By analyzingthe acreage of each land use type, the degree of land use and the regional land use distinctions in the studyareas, we will discuss their characteristics of the regional land use/land cover evolution in different periods,and explore their features of the dynamic changes of land use. With the analytic hierarchy process (AHP),we will analyze the driving factors and the impact of the economic development and human activities uponthe land use changes of the four townships during the urbanization process.This thesis can be divided into six chapters.In Chapter I, the Introduction. In this part, we will briefly describe the research background and thesignificance of the land use/land cover changes, as well as the land use researches at home and abroad.Meanwhile, we will also discuss the contents and the methods of this land use study, and the driving forceof land use changes in the process of urbanization. In Chapter II, the fundamental theories of land use changes will be described. A brief description ofthe model of land use changes applied in this research will be provided, and the framework of this studywill listed here.In Chapter III, we will have an overview of the natural and socio-economic conditions of the fourtownships in the northwest of Kaifeng. Based on the general conditions of all aspects in the entire urbanarea of Kaifeng, and the specific natural and socio-economic conditions of the four townships, we willmake a detailed analysis.In Chapter IV is about the analysis of the dynamic changes of land use in the four townships ofnortheast Kaifeng during the process of urbanization. Depending on the data of land use changes from1990to2010, we will analyze the dynamic changes of land use, including the magnitude and the speed of thechanges, the degree of land use changes and the variations of regional distinctions of land use. Meanwhile,we will also study the laws of the spatial and temporal characteristics of the dynamic changes of land use inKaifeng in the two decades.In Chapter V, the driving factors of the dynamic changes of land use caused by urbanization in the fourtownships of northeast Kaifeng will be analyzed. From the perspectives of policy and natural resources, thedriving factors of dynamic land use changes in the four townships, especially the economic factors of thepolicy driving factors, will be analyzed.In Chapter VI, the summary of the analysis of the land use changes and the driving factors of the fourtownships. In order to solve the problems existing in the land use process, some countermeasures about thesustainable use of land resources will be put forward.